Several cars receive free tanks of gas at the “Take Back Your Banking” event held at Hi-Tech Gas Station on Dayton Boulevard in Red Bank on Thursday. Three community banks –Citizens State Bank, Mountain Valley Bank, and Capital Bank — teamed up to give free gas to the first 200 cars at the gas station beginning at 9 a.m. in an effort to promote a return to community banks over national ones.WHAT IS KASASA?Kasasa is a national brand alliance that partners with community banks and credit unions to offer free checking and savings accounts. The brand, which relies heavily on online banking, also offers opportunities for customers to earn higher interest rates than national banks and perks like ATM fee refunds.Source: KasasaLOCAL KASASA BANKS• Citizens State Bank in Jasper, South Pittsburg, Kimball, Monteagle, Tracy City, Whitwell and Coalmont, Tenn.• Mountain Valley Bank in Dunlap and Monteagle, Tenn.• Capital Bank in Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold and Chickamauga, Ga.
Zach Faulkner was driving down Dayton Boulevard on his lunch break Thursday when a hubbub around the Hi-Tech Gas station caught his eye.
Though the station’s lit marquee read that regular gas was $3.33 per gallon, fluttering signs along the road proclaimed different news that was sweet to Faulkner’s eyes and his 2002 Toyota Tundra’s tank: Free Gas.
Faulkner was among 200 people who waited Thursday in a line snaking around the station as three community banks joined for a promotion that involved giving away at least $4,000 in free fuel.
On Thursday, the first 200 people to come into the station between 9 and 11 a.m. were given $20 worth of gas. By 7 a.m., the parking lot was packed, said Hi-Tech’s owner, Kenny Patel.